Esgalwathon - The Hiding Shadow
by Ace0320
Summary: After the Fourth Great Shinobi War Naruto thought he would be able to fulfill his dream of being Hokage, but he finds himself in another universe where there are no shinobi, but no one can hold him back from anything he sets his sights on. Instead of having the title of "Fire Shadow" he could get used to his new title, "Hiding Shadow." (Set years after he finds himself in LOTR)
1. Chapter 1

**~~Authors Note~~**

I was going to get this story going some more before I put it up, but I wanted to see the reaction of this story and what you guys think of it. I get distracted easily and am a people pleaser, so I spent the last month trying to think of the right prompt to start off a new story, and trying to find one you guys would like. So naturally, I've been in an endless circle of "no, this story might be better." With that in mind, I decided to publish this idea because I finished the first chapter and need to do it before I change my mind.

 **I decided to label my authors notes because I know some people skim and try to only get important things and skip the author's rambles, so I decided to help.**

 **Excuse 1:** Been a while since I've done a story, so give me a bit to get some traction. Also, the last time I posted a story was when I was ten, years ago now, so hopefully it will be better.

 **Excuse 2:** I always suck at intros…. so it might drag on in detail a bit, to introduce setting and characters. I won't explain everything down to the last hair, but I feel I still drag on a bit too long. Be sure to review and tell me. (Intros and endings…. mendōkusai)

 **Phew:** Thank god for name generators, especially that LOTR has its own name generators. I am horrible at naming things, let alone people.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto nor do I own Lord of the Rings/Hobbit, and elvish names are from Googling "lotr elf name generator." All of those belong to their respective creators.

* * *

 **Chapter 1**

"So Gandalf is making his move, forcing the dark forces to reveal themselves, risky move. Unless of course, he does not see the power vacuum that is going to happen when Smaug's no longer at the mountain? Mordor will definitely try to take advantage of it." A blond man said looking at a report on his desk. The person that gave him the report just nodded.

"Well this will certainly be interesting, a team should be dispatched to shadow. Usual rules when in the west, don't enter elvish or dwarfish settlements, don't interfere unless they know they can get away with, and never get spotted. Most of our resources are still being focused here in the east and south, I'll start diverting some, but as we are right now, they won't have any backup if they get caught" The blond reasoned.

"I'll make sure to tell them Naruto" the elf responded.

Naruto smiled at the first person to find him, Arahaelben found him unconscious in the forest of the Eastlands where the Dark Elves reside. It took him forever to learn the languages used in Middle-Earth, let alone in the Eastlands where many languages ended up being used. He still had not found a way back, or exactly how he was sent to this place at all, but he's hero complex kept kicking in, and this land sorely needs peace.

After mentioning his dream to be the leader of his village, a little of his history and battle prowess (especially in the Fourth Great Shinobi War), and how much he wanted to do something with all the hate and evil he kept finding, the dark elves offered something. They offered that if they trained him, they could be his shinobi against the evil, and as a plus, they get to show up the western elves in skill.

They made sure he didn't have complete control, but they recognized he knew how to use their training and skill the best in battle. He may have been the loudest of his village, but he was from a world of shinobi and still knew more than anybody in Middle-Earth in this field.

So he adjusted, tried to think of tactics that Shikamaru would use, tried to be as sneaky as Sasuke, tried to be as a good as a teacher as both his sensei, tried to have as good spy network as Ero-Sensei, and any other skill that he could remember to try and help this land find peace.

So he had an underground base as refuge and barracks in the Eastern lands, anyone that wanted just live in peace could live here while those who wanted to fight for it were trained and dispatched. Besides this base, there were many he created throughout the years in middle earth. So with a combination of men and elves, they began their mission.

He turned to the map behind him and rearranged some colored spots according to new reports coming in. So far everything was stable, nothing too serious besides the usual Easterlings restlessness for battle, but sabotage from his group and the blue twin mages that stayed in the east keeps them at bay.

They could spare a few units from here to head west, they needed to get a better standing there before things got too out of hand, and while making sure Mordor in the south did not make too much damage.

They just needed to act quickly, one thing he noticed in Middle-Earth is that things moved slowly, especially when traveling, and this wizard just sped things up by trying to rid Smog residing in Lonely Mountain, very risky move indeed.

He looked to the closest hideout they had next to the mountain, it was south of Dale, a small one considering there is only one settlement belonging to men in that area, and races in the west resented each other so it was harder to work without suspicion.

With all this in his mind he mumbled "mendōkusai" and after a few moments, he paused, and just had to laugh. "When did I start acting like Shikamaru?"

He turned to leave, deciding that it would be best for him to be at the base near the unfolding events and set everything up while support came in. He would have to finish everything up here then and make sure everyone knew to send any reports for him to the Dale base.

He arrived at the coup for the message birds (gladly they moved at what he was used to, so he didn't have to adjust to that change of pace, everything was sooo slow at civilian speed) and smiled at Duvaineth "Anything come in for me?"

"What came for you was already sent, so there must be another reason that you're here, or you got bored Esgalwathon?" she replied.

It took forever to figure out what that name meant, the elves gave it to him after he started training the first group. It mains _Hiding Shadow_ , they say it fits because that's what he does. He didn't notice at first but must have been a byproduct of Akatsuki and the war. And it was close enough to Hokage or _Fire Shadow_ , so he really didn't mind.

"You know well enough when I get bored, Easterling's settlements start spontaneously turning orange, no I was hoping if you didn't mind telling the outposts to send anything for me to the Dale hideout. I have business there I need to see to."

She gave him a knowing look "I can handle that, sounds like you're getting your giving yourself a big workload again, you have people to help you for a reason you know."

He slumped a little and sighed "I know, but people here can't do what I can, it's both a curse and a blessing. Thank you for doing this, I will try to delegate what I can, but the almighty wise wizards here love to rush things. I'm off to call a meeting, need to finalize things before I head off."

After he assembled everyone for an impromptu meeting with the people he entrusted to lead things here if he left, and dealt with things he didn't need to involve himself in. It was structured a lot like Konoha, he had his department heads and they had their division heads, the wonders of delegation.

Once they coordinated reports, organized their men and resources, and made sure everything was prepared, Naruto said his farewells to them, probably his closest friends in this realm. He returned to his room to see a clone of himself pack the last set of clothing in a scroll with a poof and smoke. The cloned to salute then it did the same thing, disappearing in a poof and smoke.

He walked to the bed and inspected the scroll, making sure he had food, clothes, water, and anything else he might need. He always kept a scroll like this on him, but that was to survive on, this one had more supplies.

He sat on the bed and sighed. He pulled out a picture from his black jacket. He inspected the back to make sure the preservation seal was still intact before he turned it around. It was his picture of Team 7, one of the last pieces he had from home.

While staring the photo he figured being Hokage was definitely not as hard as the previous Hokages made it sound. Here he had to do paperwork, do strategies, move troops, and assist in any way he could. Whereas Hokage they just sat behind the desk, pretend to do the paperwork, and when no one was looking read a book that would make an innocent minded person blush harder than Hinata when Naruto would talk to her or drink more sake than the local bar could even supply.

No, he would love to go back home and become Hokage, but people here now needed him, with that thought he got up and left the HQ, heading west towards Dale and the Lonely Mountain using chakra to augment his speed. They needed to sabotage what they could of any evil forces that were moving, even small things could turn the tide of the war.

* * *

 **~~Authors Note~~**

 **Done:** Well, that's the Introduction. Chapter 1, now the last sentence I really wanted to put "…even small things could turn the tide of the war, similar to how Naruto was for The Fourth Great Shinobi War." But I don't think Naruto would appreciate a joke at his height.

 **Rambles 1:** Otherwise this idea for this story came to me when I was perusing the Lord of the Rings and Naruto crossovers, and noticed the lack of good guy Naruto going into Middle-Earth, which is surprising because one of the main concepts of Naruto is that he endures, and stays good (which is why Kurama gets angry/annoyed with him at first, but then this is why he likes him later).

 **Rambles 2:** Originally I was going to stick with Lord of the Rings, but I wanted to introduce Naruto earlier in Middle-Earth, also get resources reasonably for the wars to come, and Uzumaki longevity lets me go earlier. This might end up being posted on the Hobbit x Naruto listings, then a sequel will be posted in LOTR x Naruto, that is if this is any good. Let's hope.

 **Important!** Moving on, hoped you guys liked it, and please review, I will probably be living off of your responses. They will both make me a better writer and hopefully make you guys happier.


	2. Chapter 2

**~~Authors Note~~**

Just so no one gets real freaked out about it, I'll tell how much power Naruto has within the storyline. He's not going to be super powerful that he could confidently walk up to Sauron and slap him, but he isn't weak either. I think I have a couple solutions of trying to find the balance, and some of it is thanks to you guys! Always PM me or leave a comment, and I will try and read it as soon as possible.

I tried being all technical and actually did a lot of research with timing in the LOTR/Hobbit universe, but I then started to realize that it was driving me crazy and I was getting nowhere with the story, one of the reasons I chose the east as HQ because of lack of info so I wouldn't get stuck in being "accurate", but did so anyway. So here it is and if there is something wrong you notice, feel free to PM me and tell me about it, I will fix it. I listen to reader's considerations and love your input.

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Naruto knew that he would be faster in terms of time and travel in this place, with his enhanced speed he could go speeds that this land only seen in the eagles. It was nearing the end of March when he heard the news, and he was almost to Lake-town and it was sometime in April, great timing if he says so himself.

He landed in the hideout with a huff, it's been a while since he traveled like that and he missed it. He walked over to the lone office in this base. It was in-between breakfast and lunch, so as long there were no active contracts at the moment, Kionwin should still be in his office. Being Lake-town, there weren't many people to hire them nor were there that many missions here that could benefit them, just mainly espionage against the Master of Lake-town.

Kionwin is one of the only people at this base and is the head of this division. He lives in Lake-town and poses as a hunter. He has traps that he maintains to bring his "hunt" back in town to keep appearances and with town mainly being a fishing town, they don't think twice about it.

Naruto opened the door to see his old friend leaning back in his chair, feet on his desk, and… snoring. Well, that wouldn't just do, even if it was a very low action base he needs to make sure all of the bases alert, or at least that was his excuse. With his classic foxy grin, there was a puff of smoke and a few seconds later there was an overcomplicated pulley system that would dump neon orange paint if Kionwin fell back.

What can he say, he gets bored when doing all of the paperwork and missed his pranking days. Also, it took him forever to create that orange paint and never had the chance to use it yet. He quietly walked to the door, his grin growing wider with every step. He grabbed the handle and slammed it shut.

The reaction was almost instant, Kionwin fell all the way back with a yelp, and paint fell on him. Moving around the desk Naruto doubled over in laughter when he saw Kionwin covered head to toe in paint.

Kionwin was trying very hard to give Naruto a death glare but coughing up neon orange paint was ruining the effect.

"I keep telling you that if you keep sleeping on the job something would happen!" Naruto said trying to get his laughter under control.

"Well, there isn't much to do here, you know that" Kionwin replied, full death glare finally working.

"You always got to be alert and hey, I just helped you with your boredom problem!"

"Sure, keep telling yourself that, you probably just haven't pranked someone in a while," Kionwin said giving Naruto a flat stare.

"Well if you get so bored, why don't you try to trade someone jobs for a bit?"

"Because other bases have too much work, I like taking things slow"

"You know Kionwin, you almost remind me of my old friend. Always used his brain to do the least amount of work, and always preferred sleep or cloud watching than to do anything else" Naruto replied.

"I like this friend, sounds like we would get along nicely" was Kionwin's answer.

"Well, I didn't come here just to prank you, so get cleaned up before that dries and we'll start planning"

"I knew you would bring more trouble" the older hunter grumbled as he walked out, towards a nearby stream.

* * *

"So what do you know so far?" Naruto started once they got settled in the office.

"Well, I just got your report last week, and I sent out my scout towards the forest, trying to see which route they will take but if they get stuck in elvish territory we won't be able to assist them. We are getting better in stealth but we are not as good as elves and nowhere even close to your level." Kionwin reported.

"Have you heard anything from the Bree HQ in Weather Hills? They're the ones that overheard this quest." Naruto asked trying to form a plan.

"Yes, they put their best stealth specialists to shadow the company. I almost feel sorry for those fellas though, they got to worry about the ever suspicious Rangers that patrol the area, the wizards gaze, and those show-offs of elves to evade."

"They should be able to hide, that company will be a distraction within itself. Even with the shadow, Bree should still have more men, send a message to them telling them to scout around. I want to know what we will be facing if Smaug gets defeated, tell them to focus on old castles and bases that are thought to be abandoned, those would be the easiest to build forces close to here."

"Sounds reasonable, anything else you need?"

"Yes, I need a layout of Lake-town. There is going to be an angry dragon and potentially a war, we need to establish escape routes for citizens and find ways to prepare them for it. Once we get reinforced from the eastern bases, we should be able to help more."

"Assuming that Smaug gets dealt with, Dale would be a great standing for the men of Lake-town, at least it's better than houses made of wood. If they can have the backing from one of the local armies, they would have a better chance."

"That sounds good, only thing is that the city will entrap them if there is an all-out war and if they are targeted."

"I'm going to get some those errands done and draw up some plans for you to review, ugh so much work," Kionwin said while getting up and headed towards the bird coop.

"Maybe you should have taken my advice months ago and visited other bases, this is about to be the busiest place for a while," Naruto said with a chuckle

"How was I supposed to know that the Lonely Mountain would not be so lonely, it's false advertising" Kionwin replied with what seemed to be a personal storm cloud forming over his head. "What are you going to be doing anyway?"

"I have my own business to attend to. Also, it's been a while since I messed with the elves" Naruto said as his foxy grin was returning. Kionwin shook his head with a smile, and when he blinked Naruto was gone.

* * *

The company of dwarves, hobbit, and wizard just crossed the Last Bridge on the East Road, heading towards Rivendell. In the distance, if one had amazing eyesight, you would be able to see 3 shadowy figures. One started going in the direction before the other two stopped them.

"No, that's too close to the elvish territory. They won't like us following the wizard, we will send a report and rush around the forest." One of the shadows said.

The three shadowy figures turned around and started to sprint in the other direction.

* * *

 **~~Authors Note~~**

I always had a thing for strategizing and to help show how Naruto changed into a leader, I feel putting in logistical planning would help that image. I'm also still setting everything up, inserting Naruto into LOTR and showing how it changed him, so the beginning might drag on a bit longer than I expected. Tell me what you think about Naruto's personality, I'm trying to go for responsible but still childish, kind of how I imagine Naruto as a Hokage.

Sorry for the delay on this, I have been getting a lot busier lately. I am a college student and it's the end of the school year and it's getting hectic here, should be better after a week or two. After the finals, my quality of the chapters should increase too, hopefully. With the rating, the further we go in the higher it'll go, because there isn't anything yet to merit it to go higher, but as foreshadowed in this chapter, there will be fighting and violence.

Also if it seems like I forgot to update, just send me a message and I will get an update as soon as possible. I procrastinate and also have a horrible memory, so always better safe than sorry.

Thank you for choosing my story to read! Have a great time! Ace signing out. :)


	3. Chapter 3

**~~Authors Note~~**

Sorry for the delay, I keep my profile up to date the best I can so if you guys are curious about what's going on I usually post it on there, such as what I'm working on or for any reasons for delays. My excuse this time is simple, I moved. I am starting a new chapter in my life and it's a very rocky start, not getting enough money for internet so I'm utilizing the library to access what I need. That also means that everything I do is going to be more limited so bear with me, I plan to have the internet soon… hopefully.

Now on to the story and to escape reality. :)

* * *

 **Chapter 3**

It was a nice cool night, the air was moist and the sounds of nature going through all night. Most were asleep in the town that lies on the lake, but there were two who were awake and energized. They were making their way through the town as discreetly as they could, staying to the shadows so no one could see them.

Their mission was to scout out and observe the forces of Lake-town, the guards themselves were not necessarily bad, it was who controlled them that were the problem. The Master of Lake-town was their main concern: what he would do when things started to get serious and what they could do to make sure that no matter what happened the causalities of the innocent would be lessened. No matter where Naruto ended up, he hated needless death, no matter friend or foe.

Back to the task at hand, he was memorizing the routes of the town, mentally taking notes of guard rotations and best evacuation routes. They also need to note who are going to be the most willing to work with them and help them prepare this town for anything while trying not to show himself to any of the leaders in this land, having no one know about his organization has been the best thing for operations and he was going to try and keep it that way.

Even though he read the reports from Kionwin about the town already, he was not one to learn things by reading and so to get the best layout of the situation he decided to do a patrol. The guards seemed like they could care less what went on, as long as they got paid to feed their families, which Naruto won't hold against them, even makes his job easier.

He went to the weapons storage and discreetly got it open, inspecting the weapons showed that they weren't the best that could be used but sharp enough to survive a good fight. Next off was the Master of Lake-town's office, he knew that the Master was no good as a ruler, but he wanted to see how bad it actually was.

When he got there, he made sure that all the curtains were shut, and unsealed a small lantern for some light along with a couple scrolls. He then started going through the paperwork he could find, trying to find anything he could use. After a few minutes he was mostly disappointed, the Master himself didn't keep that many records, only records that would benefit himself such as orders of personal shipments - mainly luxury items and expensive food.

Other than that it was mainly laws that benefited the Master, making sure the people had enough to live but he basically took all the rest in tax and other methods. It was something that Naruto hated in his very bones but was something he would always try to fix in humanity, you don't have to be greedy to find happiness, in fact that was a fast track to the opposite effect for when your greedy you push away true happiness, your friends, and family around you.

He left the office more determined to get his plans in motion before trouble started to come to town, for when things start to look dire the Master would sell his citizens lives for his own, and leave them to die. He nodded to Kionwin on the way back to their hideout. Kionwin had a different mission, he was to find people that would help make sure the town was ready while not trying to make it look like a coup d'état, which might actually end up happening if worst came to worst.

Naruto made it to the base first and was already writing on the map of Lake-town they had on a table. The line he was making was through one of the main paths towards Dale. "The best evacuation routes would be towards Dale, it provides shelter and is close enough to the town. The only problem I see with this plan is that it's going to be right next to the action if something were to happen, what do you think?" he said looking up at Kionwin.

After a few seconds, Kionwin replied "It seems like the best we can do, and I believe that the people of Lake-town would not have idle hands if their town were destroyed and armies were to show at their doorstep. As one of them, I believe that we would probably make a temporary alliance that would try and benefit us in the long run, that is if the Master doesn't have control of things when this happens."

"Trust me, I believe that once things do start happening the people will not allow the Master to make their decisions, he will show his greedy self for all to see trying to save his life and fortune. That should be enough to dissuade the citizens from him, all I care about is trying to limit the casualties but we can do some things to help before the crisis starts. How many trained men do we have in this town?" Naruto asked as he moved to the wall where a map of Middle-earth was hung, showing all of his organization's bases.

"I have 10 men and 5 women in the town, and they trade duties bi-weekly, most of them has a family makes it less suspicious and less dangerous" Kionwin replied, explaining why the roles were bi-weekly.

"OK, so if the town does decide to participate in the conflict we have the guards and our own people, but I still don't feel comforted by this, I hope you don't mind but I'm going to insert more forces in your town. Specifically, our female members, knowing the men in these lands they will leave the children and women while they fight thus making them defenseless if they were to be attacked."

"That's fine with me, the more backup we have the more secure I feel about the lives that live here. I will tell our people to spread word that they have family coming to visit for a while, and we'll make it look as less suspicious as possible" Kionwin replied.

"Perfect, I didn't want it to make it seem like I was taking over your town, and I don't really understand why in this land the men don't allow the women to fight, in my experience they could be the most dangerous of fighters" Naruto said while writing out orders to send to other bases and getting flashbacks to a pink haired teammate that could destroy mountains with a punch or knock him out when he did his famous Sexy no Jutsu.

With his orders filled out he started heading for the pigeon coop, once he got there he saw Gaenry getting a scroll off of a pigeon and reading it. The person was human like everyone at this base, almost Naruto's height so shorter than most people, and like Naruto relied on lean muscles more than bulky muscles. He had short messy brown hair and brown eyes, which helped with his laid back attitude everyone in this base seemed to have (he suspected that might have to do with Kionwin but won't say anything). "Ah, perfect timing Esgalwathon, we just got word from our team shadowing the company. They seem to have gone around Rivendell and let the party go through, they didn't want to risk being spotted."

"That's fine, send a reply that tells them to follow up to the mountains and send us a message when they do, we mainly just to make sure they don't get into too much trouble and make sure our plans can meet their timetable." Naruto then handed Gaenry his scrolls which had names of the bases that they needed to go to, code names, of course, didn't want the locations of his bases being exposed so easily. "Send these out too, we need to get prepared as fast as we can."

Naruto then turned to Kionwin "Once reinforcements come have a few stay here, we need to make sure this base is operational 24/7. Like I said, it's going to be the busiest place in Middle-Earth for a while. I will most likely go to the mountains to pick up on the companies' trail and on the plus side, it's been a long time since I pranked Elves" Naruto ended with a foxy grin.

* * *

After a while of waiting for reinforcements to come, Naruto couldn't stand just waiting anymore. He tried, really tried to be patient but he has always been one for movement, he couldn't just sit in one spot and wait, especially if he knew he could be doing something else. So he told Kionwin that he would watch the company personally when the pass the mountains, and started to head out that direction.

Knowing that the company would be taking to the Mirkwood forests for it would take far too long to go around, which means that they would have to try and pass the elves. That meant he would have someone who would greatly appreciate any pranks that he could do to said Elves because the company is mainly made up of dwarves, while also giving him a chance to test his new design in chakra infused paint pellets. These pellets are only "new" in the sense that he had to create it using this world's recipes, but it would still be a great test to see if the paint will withstand frantic scrubbing elves.

Once he made sure he had everything sealed and packed he started to head out once more, going more westward. He also decides to move along the river instead of on, might not want to freak too many people out and that would be counterproductive.

* * *

Traversing in what was basically his natural habitat, giant trees, he made it to the mountains within a couple of days using the branches. Once or twice he ran through a few webs by accident, darn spiders, taking over more of the forest than he remembered the last time he was here. He did have time to leave his present for the elves. He hopes the elves appreciate it, their place is now an amazing work of art and they'll probably love it as much as ANBU did back home.

Once he made it to the base of the mountain he looked up in time to see one of his organization's messenger birds fly towards Lake-town. That means that he got here the same time that the company of dwarves made it to the other side of the mountain, which also means that the shadowing team won't be following them anymore. Hopefully, they won't get themselves into too much trouble with no one watching them. He mainly just hopes that he is able to see them once they come out. For now, though he can do nothing but wait, wait to see if the company got themselves in trouble (he knows that the goblins reside in these mountains, so it isn't that hard), to see if they all made it, to see how the company works as a group. Man, he hates just waiting.

* * *

It was only a day that he had to wait, the night held the thunderous battle of the mountains (yes, he knew it wasn't just a thunderstorm, he even tried talking to them before… not a very talkative bunch), he heard the cheers and whoops of dwarves throughout the forest. He was off by a little bit but a few seconds of tree hopping got him close to the company and judging by how they are celebrating, they must have dealt with the goblins.

As soon Naruto noticed that the company was one short it seemed like the gray wizard figured out too, for he was yelling throughout the company asking where their bugler was. It was right after the dwarf's rant about how their hobbit ran off that Naruto saw said hobbit appear at a base of a tree in front of him.

Now Naruto wasn't always the most attentive, but since the war, he takes pride in noticing details that most people wouldn't and if the Hobbit would have been hiding at the base of the tree the whole time, he would have noticed, especially since it was right in front of him.

So that means two things, either the Hobbit teleported or he was invisible. Looking closely at the hobbit he saw him put something small and shiny in his pocket, so it wasn't the hobbit's ability alone and that also means an object of power. Naruto knows that, especially back home, objects of power were the most sought after by thieves because the people who wanted them wanted to cheat to be the best instead of working to get there. He made a mental note to make sure his organization kept an eye on this object.

Instinctively once Naruto figured out it was an object his chakra reached out to it, trying to sense what it could. As soon as it touched the ring it flooded back straight to Naruto. He had to catch himself from falling off the branch because the feedback he got, the power in that object felt as if corrupt, evil chakra.

In the time for Naruto to freak out at the sudden appearance, analyze the Hobbit, and real from the feedback the object gave was just enough time for the hobbit to step forward towards the company. It was perfect timing for Naruto because the feedback flared his chakra, which wouldn't have been too big of a problem if there wasn't a wizard with the group. Luckily for Naruto when the wizard looked his direction, the hobbit was what he fixed on first and his curiosity had been forgotten, at least for the moment.

* * *

In all of his worry over the object and then the wizard, Naruto did not notice that in his mindscape two red eyes snapped open in the darkness.

* * *

 **~~Authors Note~~**

Again so sorry for the delay, but getting into a new habit (such as writing) is a rocky road and trying to submit things without the internet while real life worries keep making itself known makes that road a lot rougher. Thank you all for your patients and I hope you like my story, I try to limit myself from going on too much of a tangent, and while trying to get Naruto to slowly but surely change things in this universe (Snowball/butterfly effect kind of feel I'm trying for, so might feel a bit slow at the beginning).

I will try to make a habit to make sure that I have a time scheduled to write stories, either every day or every other day so that I can get my chapters' longer and better quality, along with updating more often.

Also no need to say sorry when giving me advice, it might feel like your judging me, but as long as you do it nicely (constructive) I welcome it. I know I'm not perfect so any advice/constructive criticism are more than welcome, thank you for reviewing. I read your review after I typed half of this chapter (you also might be the reason why it is now longer, and I'll try to make the rest of my chapters longer yet) and hope I added the character description smoothly.

I hope more people will review!

Tell me what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like, critique me (constructive criticism always welcome), and now that I have my plot figured out - guess what's going to happen (when someone guessed and I had somewhat of an idea of where I was going and it didn't match, it through me off a bit but I'm back on track because it was an interesting direction but you'll see where I take you guys if you stay with me). I want to hear your guys' thoughts, see your guys' imagination at work and maybe just throw you for a loop.


	4. Chapter 4

**~~Authors Note~~**

Now I don't know if it is obvious or not, but I am following the movie's storyline when concerned with this story. It's been a long time since I've read the book, and I'm reading other books currently so I don't want to stop those to catch up, but I might read the book again, and that might make me revise some things, but shouldn't change the story as a whole.

Now I want Naruto to hide in the shadows, because I plan on taking this to Lotr, but I can't see him sitting in half the scenes and some of the things he will do will start to diverge into AU, so I'm going to try my best to see what I can do :) taking the reins from the movie/book and try to use my imagination to make this story worthy for you is a new thing for me to do, so I'm trying to walk before I run because not everyone can be Iron Man (sorry just thought of Jarvis trying to tell Tony that they should do tests).

* * *

 **Chapter 4**

After the speech made by the Hobbit, and Naruto must admit that it was a pretty good speech too, he heard wargs howl in the distance. It just seems this company won't get a break. Well, it's time to see if he can truly help out in the shadow it seems, hold up to his new title. He can't be exposed unless it was the absolute last resort.

Blending in the shadows of the trees, moving slower than the company as they ran away from the orcs so that the wargs would pass and try to take the stragglers out, knowing orcs they won't even noticed if their slowest died or wouldn't notice if one that strayed got "lost" (read dead).

After a bit of manoeuvring, and extra chakra on his feet to make sure that the wargs' ears won't pick him up, he silently killed 3 of the hunting party before the ones being chased was led to a ledge. Back home, this wouldn't stop the chase, shinobi would just jump down it, use chakra to soften the fall or run down the cliff if it was too steep, but Naruto was reminded again this place is nothing like the elemental nations. Instead, the company fled up the trees to avoid being swallowed by those giant wolves.

Everybody was out in the open now, except for him of course, but that means if he tries to make any other move, it would be easier for him to be discovered. So right now is the kind of situation where Naruto is forced to wait for an opportunity, and where he REALLY wishes that someone else was in his shoes than him, simply because ever since he landed in this realm he has been forced to wait a lot – and that is simply not the Uzumaki way.

After a few seconds he got a distraction he needed, the hunting party were staring intently at the company while the wolves were trying to get them, and then the trees started falling from the giant wolves' weight. There just so happened to be a few straggling goblins under him, it would be rude of a shinobi to not take advantage of an opportunity like that.

When the trees finally stopped falling, and the distraction is no longer usable, 4 orcs of the hunting party disappeared and none of the living is the wiser. When it looks like he will have to come out of the shadows for this encounter, the wizard in their group starts bombing the wargs' with acorns on fire, which set the fur on fire faster than normal wolves. Good to know, fire is the wargs' weakness.

The downside is that now everything is catching on fire, which thinking about is right because it has been a dry spout the last week, but that means he needs to relocate soon. After a bit of manoeuvring, and using nature chakra to help make the ground around him fire resistant, he found a good vantage point.

Even though years of trying to make himself into a serious shinobi, he still falls into his habits he did as a kid. Things like being loud, pranking, can't stay in one place for too long, and things like being distracted from what he was focusing on WAY too easily, so when he looked back up he apparently missed that the last tree the company was in had fallen over, and half their members were a pinky away from falling to their death – almost looked like literally a pinky.

Naruto forms his hands in his favorite jutsu, the shadow clone jutsu. After making 6 clones, he stumbles forwards and into a crouch to avoid falling. One thing he learned is that the energies of this place do not cooperate with jutsu, making any chakra he pulls outside of his body harder to control, and uses a lot more energy than normal because he is pushing that energy back. In his body he still has normal control of his chakra, can still stick to surfaces, augment his strength and speed but as soon as it leaves his body, this is what he has to deal with. The dark elves assume that it is because he is not from this realm and that the realms rely on different kinds of power.

After Naruto caught his breath, he growled through his brief exhaustion and looked at the situation. His clones already got the dwarves back on solid ground and charging weapons first where their king and Halfling was. His clones jumped over both parties to get on the backs of the orcs to take long-range shots at them. The only ones who noticed the clones were the company, and the only one to continue to notice them after the rescue seemed to be the old geezer. Great, all the old people Naruto knew were both meddlers and had very extreme personalities, he just hopes this one isn't that bad.

He looked back towards the orcs, some of them seemed like they were just dropping, his clones at work, and the Halfling and the dwarf king were picked up by giant eagles. With half the things he's seen already he would think this is where all the summons is kept, but luckily he _does_ know better. More eagles came out of nowhere to pluck the company and wizard up and away from harm. Naruto blended back into the shadows the flames were providing, trying to decide to decide what the best thing would be to do right now.

After a bit of consideration, he started in the direction they all came from, making sure the orcs cannot hear him and whistle. After a couple of seconds of waiting, a messenger eagle came swooping down aiming for his should her and offered its leg. On the leg was a small container that had a small slip of paper and a small pencil. He wrote a message in a code he created (basically Naruto's native language, which he taught his intel division because no one here knew it), put it back in the container, and let the bird go off back to base. He can let his underlings take care of the company, he wanted to eavesdrop on these orcs.

* * *

Kionwin just finished the logistics of the evacuation of Lake Town, should there be one. He was feeling good about himself and was just about to move on the next agenda on his list of planting stores of food and weapons where the evacuees might end up.

Moving to the table with the detailed map of the area, he was already thinking of the best places to hide them, most obvious would be in Dale, but they had backup routes just in case their route to Dale was cut off, thus he needed to make sure those destinations were supplied as well.

He just got done putting his third numbered pin, the numbers correlating with parchment that listed what supplies were to be placed there when the person running the pigeon coop today walked in. He was the same height as Kionwin, had black straight hair that was shoulder height, and wore clothing that was just small enough to fit but otherwise baggy on his frame. He just looked at Kionwin, through the tiny scrolls that the pigeons carried, and then walked off.

Used of Raoul's antics (*cough* being as lazy as him), Kionwin opened the scroll then soundly cursed. He just knew Naruto just came here to torment him and just simply pile him with work. He picked up a blank pigeon scroll form the desk in the room, quickly wrote some commands on it that boiled town to "Tail was Diverted, Target Lost, Locate and Tail" because Naruto had to not only completely lose the company but get distracted with shiny things like action.

Knowing that he should have expected this to happen, he went to the coop and sent the pigeon to the team that was closest to the Mirkwood forests, hoping they would be able to pick up the tail. If not, they would have to wait for the company to arrive, hope the company makes it to Lake Town, and that they haven't done anything too crazy. This is why they tailed them in the first place, it gave them peace of mind instead of the foreboding feeling that was slowly growing.

Trying to get rid of this foreboding feeling that he has, he went back to the map and completed putting pins in the best locations for the stashes. He then wrote up orders for his men and posted it on the board for when they come in. It was time for him to go home and just forget the world for the night.

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 **~~Author's Note~~**

Soo sorry for the delay, but I had major writer's block. It took me getting another story out of my mind for me to continue this one, but even then, this story I'm having the worst time trying to put together (You can tell by the size, I tried to make it longer, I really did). There's just so much in the LOTR universe, and so many possibilities that Naruto can do, I already have the plot I want him to do, but the small details and the technical details are snagging me up a bit when I'm writing and I'm losing my interest in writing this. I'm trying to be accurate but also give a good plot, and I'm still new to writing, all that combined with the responsibilities I'm gaining in real life, this story has been a roller coaster for me. I will still try my best to transform my imagination into words that you will enjoy and try to do it in a timely manner.

Thank you so much for reading my story! Review! I live off of them, you can tell me anything that relates to the story, your thoughts on it, how it makes you feel, or that I need to better in writing! (Nicely though, like in my other story someone suggested that I should add more dialogue because it was getting a bit dry, now in this chapter there weren't many chances for it, but I didn't realize was skimping so much on dialogue, so nicely tell me because I might not have realized it! It helps!)


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